Same-sex marriages

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U.S. Federal & state "defense
of marriage acts" (DOMA) &
constitutional amendments

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Background:

Starting in the 1990s, lawsuits were initiated in an attempt to have same-sex relationships recognized in Hawaii, Vermont, Alaska, and other states. Subsequently, various court decisions and legislative initiatives favoring equal rights for gays and lesbians either:

	allowed gays and lesbians to marry, or
	created a new form of government-recognized partnership for gays and lesbians -- commonly called civil unions or domestic partnerships.

These arrangements granted same-sex couples some or all of the same rights and privileges that states had previously reserved as special rights only for opposite-sex married couples. They differ from state to state, but often total about three to four hundred rights.

Religious and social conservatives reacted with horror to these developments, and regarded them as an attack on traditional marriage -- that is marriage reserved as a special privilege for opposite-sex couples. This triggered a series of state "Defense of Marriage Acts" or DOMAs to prevent marriage equality and equal rights for same-sex couples from spreading. In addition, a federal DOMA law was passed to prevent same-sex couples from obtaining the approximately 1,100 federal benefits that opposite-sex married couples routinely receive.

On 2009-SEP-15, Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jared Polis (D-CO), John Conyers (D-MI), John Lewis (D-GA.), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), filed a bill in the U.S. House titled the Respect for Marriage Act. It initially has 91 co-sponsors, and would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act. If signed into law, it would allow all loving committed married couples in the U.S. access to the same 1,100 or so federal programs -- whether they be of the opposite-sex or same-sex.

Topics covered in this section:

	State DOMA laws   How effective are DOMA laws and constitutional amendments?   The Nebraska DOMA law temporarily declared unconstitutional   Speech in opposition to the Iowa DOMA law (over 12 years old but still an accurate reflection of the marriage equality side of the debate)   A state marriage amendment in Kansas
	The federal DOMA law: Passage of the law during 1996   Attempts to have the federal DOMA law declared unconstitutional   Attempt to repeal the law
	"Federal Marriage Amendment" (FMA)

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Copyright © 1995 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 1995-SEP-11
Latest update: 2009-SEP-15
Author: B.A. Robinson

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